Iran's fingerprints on Hamas weaponry, but its larger role in Israel-Gaza crisis remains murky

3 hours ago
By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

It was an unguarded comment that may have strayed close to the truth: Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said he believes tensions over Iran were behind the Israel-Gaza violence.

That remark – made in a radio studio when he thought he was off the air – echoes a theory that Tehran’s fingerprints are all over the current escalation of violence.

Realizing that he was actually live on air, Sacks did not elaborate on his theory but Western intelligence agencies and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) do agree that longer-range rockets being fired toward Tel Aviv are Iranian-manufactured Fajr-5 missiles.

The Fajr-5s are assembled locally after being shipped from Iran via Egypt’s Sinai region from where they are smuggled into Gaza through tunnels, the IDF says on its own public information site.